FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL

Chapter 2

Alice

It had now been three weeks since I had made the agreement with my mother. School was the same as always: boring classes, crowded hallways and the teasing.It seemed that Michele had now made it her life's goal to torture and humiliate me as much as possible. But now at least I had something to look forward to. One more week and it would all be over. My mom would hire a private tutor for me and I would be able to complete seventh grade at home.

I was sitting alone at my usual table at the back of the school cafeteria , quietly eating today's lunch. I had chosen a strawberry milk carton with a slice of cheesy pizza. Glancing around the crowded room, I spotted Michele and her friends sitting with some other people. I spotted Eleanor Sanders and her friend, Emily Rene sitting at a table near the centre. I did not know much about them except that they were very popular and that Eleanor's family was very rich. They had never been mean to me so I found no reason to hate them. But I did hate the school as a whole.

The guys in our class were divided into three groups: the soccer fans who played on the middle school soccer team too, the guys who ditched classes and had taken a step down the road to puberty and the guys who talked about nothing but video games, books and school: geeks. I was in no position to judge though.

Then there were the sixth graders who occupied the back of the cafeteria where I usually sat. Yes, I sat with the sixth graders and was teased enough for it. I just felt a little better here, like no one here could tease me. I was a year older than them all and they never talked to me so I felt less threatened.

When I was done with my milk, I decided I wanted a drink of Coke to go with the half slice of pizza that was left on my plate, so I hastily got up and made my way to the front of the room, hoping not to attract attention.

But my hopes were shattered as I heard a high pitched giggle, I knew only to well. Michele. I tried to ignore it and grabbed a can of coke, popped it open and payed for it hurriedly before turning around and making for my table, but my path was blocked by none other than Michele Peterson and her minions.

"I thought you weren't allowed to have a lot of fizzy drinks with braces, Bracer?" she mocked and I narrowed my eyes in anger. I tried to walk past her but she blocked my path.

"You do realise that those sixth graders you sit near talk about you behind your back, right?" Again I did not reply. Sometimes, I would get angry at myself for not standing up to her. It was pretty obvious nobody was going to stick up for me so I should be able to do that myself. But I wasn't.

Michele glanced behind her and the whole room had gone silent, gawking at the scene before them. No one spoke. Everyone wanted to know what Michele would say next. No one was looking forward to hearing me, since they all knew I never fought back.

"Is that shirt of yours meant to scare me, Bracey Bracer?" she said in a singsong voice, pointing at my yellow t-shirt that had a picture of a very green Hulk on it. I had only worn that shirt because I had been running late and it was the first shirt I had laid eyes on in the morning. I normally wore this at night because of the warm and fuzzy texture. My blue cardigan was supposed to cover the Hulk, but clearly it hadn't.

I shook my head and said as bravely as possible," No, I like the texture of the shirt." and started walking but this time someone had found it funny to slam into my side. I threw my arms in front of me and tried to regain my balance but to no avail. I ended up sitting on the floor with my Coke literally all over me. It was dripping down my shirt and had made it's way to my jeans too.

"Oops," I heard a giggle and looked up to glare at Michele who was standing above me, smirking."Well I did you a favour anyway. Coke is not good for people with braces, Bracer!"

"You ruined my shirt you idiot!" I spat out angrily.

"Well, let's face it Bracey. That shirt was hideous anyway."

"The only thing that's hideous in this room is you, Michele," I heard a voice and I saw Emily Rene and Eleanor Sanders giving Michele identical glares.

I got to my feet quickly and ran out of the cafeteria, completely forgetting about my pizza. Hot tears were running down my cheeks and I went to the only place I knew no one would disturb me in. The girls' bathroom.. I bawled my eyes out and luckily no one came in. I hated this school so much! But I forced myself to think positive: there was only a week left till when my mom had agreed to start homeschooling me.

I looked at myself in the mirror and was shocked to see two people behind me: Eleanor Sanders and Emily Rene. Had they been here the whole time?

I turned around and could feel my heart pounding and my face reddening.

"Were you here the whole time?" I asked, feebly.

"Not exactly," Eleanor smiled gently.

"We got here like only a minute ago," Emily chinned in.

"Oh," was all I managed to say. Eleanor washed her hands and ran a hairbrush through her hair while Emily applied some lipgloss. I glanced at my own reflection in the mirror and was shocked to see my hair all tangled and knotty. I did not have a hairbrush with me so I attempted to straighten it by running my hand through it. It didn't work.

"Here, use this," Eleanor was holding out her hairbrush. I gulped, unsure whether to take it. Why would she care enough to give it to me anyway?

"No, I can't," I said." It's yours,"

"It's no problem hun. Wait, let me brush it out for you. It looks like hard work." she smiled again and Emily added,

"She can get any kind of hair tangle-free. She's a pro at it."

"I wouldn't call myself a pro exactly," Eleanor laughed as she brushed my hair. She was done in about two minutes and I ran my hand through my hair to find it smooth and tangle-free.

"Michele is such a jerk!" Emily pointed out and I sighed. I really did not want to talk about her right now.

"Totally." said Eleanor." Bracey Bracer? Seriously? That's the best she can do?" And she started laughing. I was shocked to say the least.

"I swear!" Emily giggled." And Brianna and Lexa just follow her around everywhere like lost puppies!"

I don't know what prompted me but I laughed along-with them. It felt so good to laugh with someone at this school. And it felt right and natural. I had a really great feeling in the pit of my stomach. Turns out, Eleanor and Emily were actually very friendly.

A/N

I'm so sorry if this wasn't that good. It looked so immature to me when I read over it but this was the only way I could have written this chapter. Please tell me what you thought of it but be nice! Thank you so much for reading and please please please comment and vote! :-)

THIS IS A SIDE BOOK/PREQUEL FOR A TRILOGY I'M DOING. THE FIRST BOOK IS CALLED THE SILVERLIGHT AND IT IS COMPLETE. Please read it :) it's about when these characters grow up a little and it has vampires and werewolves :) this book is to show them when they were younger and to explore their past :)